(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to office information systems, such as copiers, facsimiles or printers, and more particular to an office information system having a device which provides a user (or a request source) with an operational message of the office information system when an specific event occurs.
(2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8 shows an enclosure of an office information system according to the related art. This office information system is, for example, a copier, a facsimile or a printer.
In the office information system of FIG. 8, a liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel 101 is provided on top of an enclosure 100, and an access door 102 is provided at a lower portion of the enclosure 100. The access door 102 is opened by the operator or user who wishes to look into the internal components of the system for the purpose of repair or maintenance.
When a failure, such as paper jam or lack of toner, in the office information system of the above type takes place, an image indicating a failure location in the system is displayed on the LCD panel 101.
FIG. 9 shows an image of a failure location displayed on the LCD panel 100 of the office information system of FIG. 8. In the example of FIG. 9, a paper jam occurs in the system and a location “B3” of the paper jam in the system is indicated in the displayed image.
FIG. 10 shows an internal structure of the office information system of FIG. 8 when the access door 102 is opened and the internal components of the system are looked into. As shown in FIG. 10, the office information system includes, for example, a plurality of components at respective locations A1, A2, B1, B2 and B3.
The user views the image on the LCD panel 100, opens the access door 102, and searches for the location of the paper jam in the actual system corresponding to the location “B3” in the displayed image. If the location of the paper jam can be found, the user performs a repairing or correcting operation on the related component at the location “B3” so as to eliminate the failure from the system.
However, in the office information system of FIG. 8, a guidance message which helps the user to recover the paper jam or lack of toner in the system is only the image displayed on the LCD panel 101. Such a message is often inadequate for the user to complete failure-recovery operations on the system, and this makes it difficult to efficiently carry out the failure recovery.
For example, when the location “B3” of the failure indicated by the displayed image is a concealed place within the system, finding the actual component related to the failure in the system is difficult, or a considerable time and cost is needed to find it. When a certain preliminary operation must be formed to reach the related component at the location “B3” of the failure, the user is often unable to recognize the need of the preliminary operation from the displayed image only. Therefore, it is desirable that an office information system which ensures easy searching and recognition of a location of a failure in the system and provides the user with a failure-recovery operational message for efficient failure recovery is provided.